Fetching
One moment.
Eleven books by a shoemaker of Görlitz who wrote, by his own account, because he could not help it. Ten of them stand here in the seventeenth-century English of John Sparrow, who translated Boehme within a generation of his death and whose prose is itself now four hundred years old; where that English has drifted out of reach, the facing pane carries a modern register — the same text with archaic inflection and spelling normalised by rule, never paraphrased. Nothing is reworded, and where no register appears beside a passage it is because the rules found nothing to change.
The eleventh book is not in English at all, and it is the reason this note exists.
Des trois principes de l'essence divine, printed at Paris in 1802, is the same work as Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence, which stands here as the second book — the same twenty-seven chapters in the same order, opening `Du premier principe de l'essence divine` against Sparrow's `Of the first Principle of the Divine Essence`. Its translator was Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, who gave the last years of his life to putting Boehme into French, and who has a shelf of his own in this Lycaeum.
That makes a closed circuit inside this archive, and it is worth naming plainly. Saint-Martin translates Boehme. La Iniciación, printed in Montevideo a hundred and forty years later, traces its own descent through Saint-Martin. A reader can therefore follow one thread from a German mystic of 1619, through the French philosopher who carried him into another language, to a Spanish-language monthly of the 1940s that claimed them both — and read every step of it in the original.
The two are shelved as one work rather than two because that is what they are. They are not set as facing panes: an English translation of 1619 and a French translation of 1802 are two independent readings of a lost German original, and pairing them line by line would assert a correspondence neither translator ever claimed.
1iernil et de l'ëterrtel doute. Quand là cjôîère de fiieti ^'éîère dans la source , de façon que la méchanr«lé lui cause de l'irritation, [alors Commencent le tremblement , les exolamaiions , leScris et le douto intérieur sur Dieu. Alors Ta me cherche le soulagement et l'amendement dans le royaume de ce monde ; mais elle ne le trouve pas ; c'est ce qui fait qu'elle abandonne aUisi le rcyau.ne de ce monde , et qu'elle court dans l'originel , dans la racme de l'éternelle génération , et cherche l'amendément et le soulagement; mais elle ne trouve rien. Poar lors, elle s'élance dans l'effroyable abîme, présumant atteindre la. ricioe du soulagement et de l'amendement, ou bien les portes du i^vW^me;»^ ; mais elle ne fait que monter au-dessus du ciel ,' dansxe qu'ily adeplos extérieur , dans l'éternité colérique. i2£. Ainsi elle devient un ennemi mortel porfr le c»rps dans lequel elle a porté l'image de Dieu ^ ef plusieurs courent à Tean , à la corde etàl'épée, et tuent le corpfe qui leur a tué l'imé^ de DieJ Jter les cupidités fèttiporelles , h fausée assurance , la confiance en soi-même , le mépris et les meurtrec de ses frères et sœurs , le vol de leur pain quotidien, ainsi que pour avoir été cause de l'égarement de leurs ^frères et soours. I »3. Et toi, église caïni<p*e en Abel , on toi, Caïft, tu as ici un miroir danstoni^é«»^m(7/i« d'orgueil etde pro-r pre puissance , ainsi que dans ta vie voluptueuse et avide de ta propre gloire 5 fegarde-toi seulement en toi-même ; car tu ©s entrée dans l'esprit de ce monde • 'Lj %■ ( 176 ) ^«- **
2luttes fait un royaume céleste du royaume de ce monde , et tu ne te confies qu'en loi-même ; tu l etabUs maître au-dessus d'Abel , et tu ne fais qu attirer à toi le royaume de ce monde par la puissance et par l'adresse, et tu t'en rends le protecteur. Par là tu t'éloignes de Dieu ; tu t'imagines n'êtra pa* moins saint , quoique tu opprimes sous tonioug Je pauvre Abel, et que tu le tourmentes jour et nuit. Il faut qu'il soit ton animal de service , el tu le retiens en ta propriété : cependant il n'y a pas en lui la moiudre chose qui t'appartienne 5 tu n'es que le chasseur qui le poursuit vers Jéricho ; tu es son meurtrier qui le dépouille , le frappe , et le tue. 1^. Demandes-tu pourquoi? Vois , je vais te kj dire. Tu es Caïn, le maîue de ce monde; car tu^t es établi tel toi-même. El maintenaîit Abel est ton esclave qui esl entré dans ce monde comme un hole. Mais il est là et désire d'aller de ce monde dans .a patrie. Tu ne peux pas le souffrir ; tu l'oppnines sans pitié de deux manières, le tout très subtilement , et dan. ta propre puis^iice: l^ Par ton faux et hypocrite enseignement en Babel, dan. lequel i^ faut qu'il croie ce que tu lui preacris ^ns 1 esprit de Dieu > par là tu ne fais que forlifier ton opulent el liistueux règne ; par là tu l'égarés du chemin de Dieu , dans l'esprit de ce monde , et tu le tues, ainsi que tu as Xué Ahel[ Ici j e snppnmé quelques expressions un peu virulentes. ] laS. a^.Tu t'es établi maître sur lui, et tu t'en es îait il propriété , ainsi tu le pavanes à son sujet , comj»e la femme insensée de ce monde. Tu le tour-; en. 10. ( 177 )
3mentes jour et nuit , tu consumes sa sueur dani l'orgueil , le tout selon la vengeance et la colère. Ainsinon seulement tu le garotes dans les ténèbres,* mais encore dans de grandes douleurs et de grande! souffrances ; il cherche les moyens de s'enfuir et comment il pourra venir à la lumière, et s.'éloigner de l'instigateur. 126. Mais que trouve-t-il dans tes por»es? Le chemin de la ïîiusseié , de la richesse , de Pastuce du mensonge, de la tromperie et de la cupidité , et \art de te retourner pour qu'il ne vive que sous ton joug, Il lue ainsi lui-même sa pauvre ame, soiis ton joug et se sépare ainsi du royaume de Dieu -, il s'adonne à l'esprit de ce monde , s'agenouillant et priant devaut ta béte ; et il honore ta folle épouse qui est montée sur ta bêle, comme l'esprit de Dieu nous le témoigne dans la révélation de Jesus-Christ^ ou l'apocalypse. 127. Ainsi tu tues continuellement le pauvre Abel de deux manières , et tu lui donnes de grands scandales par ton élévation , et ta pompe. Tu l'éloignés de Dieu dans l'esprit de ce monde; là alors irde. vient aveugle, il veut toujours cheminer à la suite il veut toujours s'asseoir sur ta bêle , et aussi être un mailre, quoiqu'en se montrant sous des postures humbles. Or le royaume de ce monde est une vraie fosse de meurtre , et devant Dieu une fosse d'abomination. 128. L'esprit de ta folle bête est le ver infernal ; l'épouse couronnée qui est assise dessus , est la fausse femme en Babel ^ elle ne boit que de la coupe H. la I' 1 ( 178 ) "• ••• .-. ■•„« Pi de l'abomination. Là sa bois- '" '' rS To^ de Dieu don. les peup.es boison «st l âpre coiei ivresse ils deviennent meurtners, ^^^ d'eux - mei„ius.es . m.pns n a. e • ,^^ ^^^^^,^„^^ ^ "'"^';^" se combattait L ««s et les au.res . orgueilleux , se como ^^,^,,^
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1iernal and of eternal doubt. When the anger of God rises in the source, so that wickedness causes it irritation, then begin the trembling, the exclamations, the cries and the interior doubt upon God. Then the soul seeks solace and amendment in the kingdom of this world; but it finds it not; it is that which makes it abandon also the kingdom of this world, and run into the original, into the root of the eternal generation, and seek amendment and solace; but it finds nothing. Thereupon, it darts into the frightful abyss, presuming to reach the root of solace and of amendment, or else the gates of the breaking; but it does but mount above heaven, into what there is of most exterior, into the choleric eternity. i2£. Thus it becomes a mortal enemy to the body in which it bore the image of God; and several run to the water, to the cord and to the sword, and kill the body which has killed for them the image of God, by the temporal cupidities, the false assurance, the confidence in oneself, the contempt and the murders of its brothers and sisters, the theft of their daily bread, as well as for having been the cause of the straying of their brothers and sisters. I »3. And thou, cainic church in Abel, or thou, Cain, thou hast here a mirror in thy stoni^é«»^m(7/i« of pride and of proper power, as well as in thy voluptuous life and greedy of thy own glory 5 look only at thyself in thyself; for thou art entered into the spirit of this world 'Lj %■ ( 176 ) ^«- **
2thou hast made a celestial kingdom of the kingdom of this world, and thou confidest only in thyself; thou establishest thyself master above Abel, and thou dost but draw to thyself the kingdom of this world by power and by address, and thou renderest thyself the protector of it. Thereby thou withdrawest from God; thou imaginest thyself not less holy, although thou oppressest under thy yoke the poor Abel, and tormentest him day and night. He must be thy service animal, and thou retainest him in thy property: nevertheless there is not in him the least thing that belongs to thee 5 thou art but the hunter who pursues him toward Jericho; thou art his murderer who strips him, strikes him, and kills him. 1^. Askest thou why? See, I will tell it thee. Thou art Cain, the master of this world; for thou hast established thyself such thyself. And now Abel is thy slave who is entered into this world as a guest. But he is there and desires to go from this world into his fatherland. Thou canst not suffer it; thou oppressest him without pity in two manners, the whole very subtly, and in thy own power: l^ By thy false and hypocritical teaching in Babel, in which he must believe what thou prescribest him without 1 the spirit of God; thereby thou dost but fortify thy opulent and lustrous reign; thereby thou strayest him from the way of God, into the spirit of this world, and thou killest him, as thou hast killed Abel [ Here I have suppressed some expressions a little virulent. ] laS. a^. Thou hast established thyself master over him, and hast made him thy property, thus thou struttest upon his subject, like the insensate woman of this world. Thou tor- en. 10. ( 177 )
3mentest day and night, thou consumest his sweat in pride, the whole according to vengeance and anger. Thus not only dost thou garrotte him in the darkness, but still in great pains and great sufferings; he seeks the means of fleeing and how he may come to the light, and withdraw from the instigator. 126. But what finds he in thy gates? The way of falseness, of riches, of cunning, of lying, of deceit and of cupidity, and the art of turning thee so that he may live only under thy yoke. He kills thus himself his poor soul, under thy yoke, and separates himself thus from the kingdom of God; he gives himself to the spirit of this world, kneeling and praying before thy beast; and he honours thy mad spouse who is mounted upon thy beast, as the spirit of God testifies it to us in the revelation of Jesus-Christ, or the apocalypse. 127. Thus thou killest continually the poor Abel in two manners, and thou givest him great scandals by thy elevation, and thy pomp. Thou withdrawest him from God into the spirit of this world; there then he becomes blind, he will always walk in thy train, he will always sit upon thy beast, and also be a master, although showing himself under humble postures. Now the kingdom of this world is a true murder-pit, and before God a pit of abomination. 128. The spirit of thy mad beast is the infernal worm; the crowned spouse who is seated upon it, is the false woman in Babel; she drinks only of the cup H. la I' 1 ( 178 ) "• ••• .-. ■•„« Pi of abomination. There her drink '" '' rS To^ of God whereof the peoples drink is the harsh anger; by this drunkenness they become murderers, ^^^ of themselves, unjust, contemptuous n a. e • ,^^ ^^^^^,^„^^ ^ "'"^';^" combating one another, proud, se como ^^,^,,^
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
Saint-Martin's French rendering of Boehme's 'Von den drei Principien göttlichen Wesens'. The same work stands in this estate in English as boehme:2. The title page also advertises 'L'Aurore naissante, du même Auteur' from the same booksellers — Saint-Martin's translation of the Aurora, whose English counterpart the estate holds as boehme:1. Reading the two versions against each other shows what a Martinist made of a German shoemaker's theosophy.
→ boehme:2
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.